Job 20:4 Commentary and Bible Study

Zophar’s appeal, as ever, is to the authority of tradition as the source of truth. He has nothing new to say and keeps ploughing the same furrow. He tries to set against Job all the experience of the ancients, insisting that from the beginning of the world it has been universally recognised that the wicked receive their just reward and God brings their crimes to light even before they leave the world. A wise man knows that it is dangerous to depart from the understanding of previous generations, and Job cannot help feeling the force of these words. The wicked, says Zophar, are for a time so convinced of their success that they celebrate their triumph, and the gullible find it hard to deny that they have been rewarded by God. Keep watching them however, and you will see a change take place that you would not have imagined. This picture of the hypocrite is intended to map onto Job’s life, and to account for his previous prosperity when he had appeared to be a man of truth and integrity who was honoured by all. That time has come to an end and the rot that lay beneath this façade is now exposed. Compared to eternity, this short-lived period of deception is nothing, says Zophar. How can Job be a sincere believer since his triumphing has been taken away. Job, it seems, is a comparatively young man for those days. From here to the end of the chapter Zophar lists a catalogue of evils that befall the hypocrite, evils which, he thinks, Job should have little difficulty in applying to himself. The problem with Zophar’s doctrine is not that he says God will judge hypocrites. Certainly that is true, and Scripture teaches in other places that the wicked are soon removed (Psalm 37:35-36; 73:19). The problem is that he speaks as if complete justice comes during this life. When Scripture speaks of the judgment of the wicked, it refers to the judgment that comes after death. There may be token judgments during this life, but comprehensive justice comes after we leave this world. From the perspective of heaven, life is short, and eternity is near. It is right therefore to say that the triumphing of the wicked is soon over, given the proximity of death. But to insist that all hypocrites meet justice in this life, and that this explains Job’s case, is an error which Job, and later God, will correct.